Ring-0 Networks

Marketing and commercial advisory. Technical sales supporting.

Advisor

Yes 2 AI

AI and Cybersecurity product expert with a proven track record of leading teams from conceptual product ideation to commercialization and exit earn-out multipliers.

Chief Product Officer

Valonni Corretora de Planos de saúde e Seguros

• Led product development and market launch, achieving a 4x revenue increase in four years.
• Directed cross-functional teams and integrated CRM to enhance pre-sales and post-sales operations.
• Developed a strategic product roadmap with new products including credit card lines, insurances, and health care plans, aligning product vision with business goals.
• Orchestrated the strategic design and execution of new acquisition channel strategies, utilizing A/B testing and customer journey mapping supported by advanced data analysis (Google Analytics), achieving a 70% boost in sales.

Head of Products and Founder

CUJO AI

• Spearheaded the firmware team as Product Manager, launching CUJO AI SaaS smart firewall and its mobile app across 20 million devices, resulting in a 100% revenue increase over three years.
• Implemented Agile methodologies (Scrum), delivering 40% more using process optimization and performance metrics.
• Achieved 100% automation with QA engineering in firmware releases through iterative testing and development (Jira, Confluence, Trello), ensuring compliance with user story acceptance criteria.
• Managed the product lifecycle, including MVP development of the Parental Controls feature, resulting in a 30% increase in user acquisition and a 40% reduction in time to market.

Senior Product Manager

THINC.

• Led IoT department, launching an enterprise software and mobile app for real-time telemetry of 100 million refrigerators for the B2B market (Coca-Cola), achieving over 20% cost savings.
• Directed product development lifecycle of mobile app and web system enterprise with user-centric design, increasing annual revenue from 10% to 35% over five years.
• Utilized data analysis and insights (SQL, Excel, Python) to boost operational efficiency by 80%, reducing downtime from 30 minutes to 5 minutes, enabling rapid issue resolution.

• Engineered a cost-reduction algorithm/product for fleet fuel management, reducing fuel costs by 45% and saving clients $10M, resulting in an 80% revenue surge over five years.
• Directed and mentored teams in agile software development sprints, enhancing product quality and performance.Demonstrated strengths in team leadership, agile methodology, and stakeholder relations.
• Applied expertise in coding, algorithms, machine learning, and data engineering, implementing a telemetry strategy based on user research to boost stakeholder engagement

Lead Product Manager

• Cultivated strong client relationships through targeted user research, successfully attracting two new clients and boosting revenue by 30% compared to the previous year. Demonstrated expertise in client relationship management, user research, and revenue growth for RM Telecom. 
• Ensured stakeholder satisfaction by providing consistent updates, clearly defining project scope, objectives, and resources. Showcased strengths in stakeholder communication, project management, and resource allocation.

Project Manager

Internship Trainee

Chief Product Officer Yes2 AI

Driving the product lifecycle of AI innovation at Yes 2 AI, my focus is on transforming conceptual products into market-leading solutions. This journey is underscored by my recent support role at Ring-0 Networks a cybersecurity startup, where I advise on commercial and marketing strategies, enhancing technical sales processes.

With a proven track record in leading teams from product concept to market realization, I excel in aligning AI initiatives with business objectives. We harness generative and responsible AI to deliver measurable outcomes, scaling AI-based products that exceed market and customer expectations while unlocking growth opportunities.

Isabela Valonni

Moss Adams

●	Led cross-functional teams of Product Managers, Engineers, and Designers, resulting in a 30% increase in product adoption through innovative strategies and alignment with business objectives.
●	Spearheaded the company’s first scalable product management framework, reducing delivery timelines by 20% and positioning the company for long-term growth.
●	Fostered a collaborative team of Product Managers and Engineers, driving product innovation and ensuring product alignment with business goals.
●	Implemented Agile methodologies (Scrum, Lean), improving team performance by 25%, increasing operational efficiency, and ensuring alignment with evolving market demands.
●	Directed roadmap development for SaaS and on-prem solutions, leading to scalability and improved operational efficiency.
●	Led change management initiatives, introducing prioritization techniques in backlog reviews and cutting delivery times by 20%.
●	Collaborated with stakeholders to align product features with business goals, contributing to a 40% boost in customer satisfaction.

Principal Product Manager

●	Managed multiple product teams across SaaS and on-premises platforms, leading end-to-end product lifecycle management and ensuring that products were optimized for scalability and growth. 
●	Increased productivity by 20% by implementing Agile frameworks (Scrum, Lean), while improving project management efficiency by 30% and reducing product development costs by 15%. 
●	Mentored and developed Product Managers and Product Owners, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and team performance, resulting in a 25% improvement in team output. 
●	Led vendor negotiations, securing a 15% cost reduction while maintaining product quality, demonstrating expertise in resource optimization and strategic vendor management. 
●	Championed customer-centric development, ensuring that products were designed and iterated with continuous feedback loops that increased customer engagement and satisfaction by 40%.

Group Product Manager

Washington State Employment Security Department

●	Developed and executed a long-term vision for product improvement, incorporating advanced automation features to modernize service delivery and increase scalability.
●	Pioneered the launch of a chatbot, collaborating with developers to ensure thorough UAT testing, resulting in a 30% improvement in user experience and contributing to overall digital transformation.
●	Created a customer-centric feedback loop, improving customer engagement by 25% and aligning product features with user needs through iterative enhancements.
●	Enhanced internal capabilities by driving product innovation and modernizing service offerings, improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction by 40%.

Product Manager

Fiverr

●	Collaborated directly with C-Suite executives to implement strategic changes that boosted business performance by 20%, reducing operating costs by 30%.
●	Led workshops and Agile methodology training, increasing team efficiency by 15% and guiding companies through change management and operational improvements.
●	Increased revenue by 20% through scalability initiatives that optimized operational processes and improved product offerings.
●	Conducted process optimization projects that drove a 10% increase in operational efficiency and contributed to long-term growth.

Business Operations Consultant

Sechrist Design

●	Tripled the company’s bottom line by expanding into new markets and scaling products to meet growing demands, driving significant revenue growth.
●	Directed operations to improve scalability, reducing production time by 25% and enhancing efficiency through Lean principles and process optimization.
●	Managed multi-million-dollar budgets, cutting operational costs by 20% while maintaining quality and enhancing vendor relationships for long-term growth.
●	Mentored department heads to improve team performance by 20%, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration.

Director of Operations

Tyler Technologies

●	Managed the full product lifecycle, from concept to launch, developing new products that resulted in a 30% increase in user engagement and unlocked new market opportunities.
●	Captured $1M+ in recurring revenue by developing strategic account roadmaps for IT customer support, ensuring alignment with business objectives and scalability.
●	Boosted customer satisfaction by 40% through the implementation of customer feedback mechanisms, driving ongoing product enhancements and ensuring continuous improvement.
●	Led cross-functional teams using Agile methodologies, improving product rollout efficiency by 15% and ensuring projects were delivered on time and within budget.

As a seasoned Product Leader with over 15 years of experience in driving growth and innovation across SaaS and on-prem solutions, I specialize in leading cross-functional teams to deliver scalable, customer-centric products. My expertise spans Agile methodologies (Scrum, Lean), product strategy, and roadmap development, with a proven track record of increasing product adoption by 30% and reducing delivery timelines by 20%.

I excel at creating and executing product roadmaps that align with evolving market demands, leveraging data-driven decision making to ensure that products meet both user and business needs. My leadership approach focuses on mentorship, team development, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, driving team performance by up to 25%.

Key Highlights:

Product Leadership:

✅ Spearheaded the creation of Moss Adams' first product management framework, optimizing processes for scalability and long-term growth.
✅ Reduced product delivery timelines by 20%, streamlining cross-functional team collaboration and improving overall efficiency.
✅ Standardized product management practices, positioning the organization for continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Product Strategy & Strategic Execution:

✅ Successfully launched a new SaaS product, increasing user adoption by 15% and significantly enhancing the customer experience.
✅ Developed and executed strategic product roadmaps, boosting customer engagement by 40% through UX improvements and digital transformation.
✅ Improved operational efficiency by reducing product iteration time and leveraging data-driven decisions for better market fit and scalability.

Leadership & Mentoring:

✅ Mentored and developed high-performing product teams, resulting in a 25% improvement in performance and promoting best practices across the organization.
✅ Fostered a culture of continuous innovation and agility, improving team collaboration and adaptability in fast-changing market environments.
✅ Increased team morale and engagement by 20%, driving a more cohesive and productive workforce across multiple product lines.
✅ Recognized with the "Extra Mile Award" from Washington State Governor Jay Inslee for excellence in product management and cross-functional collaboration.

What’s Next:

I am seeking remote leadership roles such as Senior Product Manager, Group Product Manager, Principal Product Manager, Lead Product Manager or Head of Product, essentially where I can lead teams to deliver high-impact, scalable solutions that drive growth and innovation.

Richard Ewing

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 "𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐌" 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞.

I see it on every resume. 
You know SQL. You know Jira. 
You know how to run a Sprint Retrospective.

But when I ask you about Gross Margin, CAC Payback, or CapEx vs. OpEx, the room goes silent.

This is the "Senior PM Trap." 

You are excellent at spending the company's money (building features), but you have no idea how the company makes money (Unit Economics).

To get to VP, you don't need another Agile certification. You need an MBA in Product Economics.

I spent a decade scaling a SaaS product from $0 to $25M ARR. I didn't do it by optimizing the backlog. 

I did it by treating the product like an investment portfolio.

I am re-launching The Product Quarterback to teach the one skill that isn't in the Scrum Guide: How to run a P&L.

We are leaving the "Feature Factory" behind. If you are ready to become a Business Architect, the playbook is open.

Link in the comments. 👇

#ProductManagement #CareerGrowth #SaaS #PandL #ProductQuarterback

Your stuck at Senior PM - Financially illiterate

𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐈𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞

I used to believe the only thing a startup needed was a great idea. I learned the hard way that a great idea, paired with ambiguous leadership, equals burnout and zero revenue growth.

The real problem in 0-to-1 environments isn't the ambiguity; it's a lack of bold decision-making. You can't analyze your way to success, you have to define product direction so clearly that your team has no choice but to run forward.

I just dropped a new article on how to translate breakthrough ideas into usable, high-value end-user experiences, even when you’re building from scratch. It includes:

• The single "testable thesis" you need to replace your 50-page business plan.
• My "Scrappiness Audit" to cut time-to-market in half this week.
• Why the most important metric you define is the kill switch metric.

Stop managing the chaos. Start leading the change.

Read the full article here:

Let me know what you think and how the article resonated with you!

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks on AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, Leadership, Mindset, P&L, and organizational turnaround. Please Like, Comment, and Repost to share this fundamental lesson with your network!

#0to1 #ProductLeadership #EntrepreneurialMindset #StartupLife #Innovation #BusinessGrowth #ExecutiveAlignment #Leadership #ProductManagment #Tech #AI #ProgramManagement #ProjectManagement #Mindset

View newsletter: Product Leadership Playbook

I have to be honest: there was a period in my career where I was the problem. I was leading a group, and we were putting in 60-hour weeks, but the res

Open article: The One Decision That Changes Everything by Richard Ewing • 2 min read

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩. 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚 𝐏&𝐋.

Most Product Managers think their job is to ship code. 
They are wrong.

Your job is to manage a profit and loss statement.

Early in my career, I made the mistake of presenting a "feature completion" chart to my board. They looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. 

They didn't care that we shipped the new dashboard. They cared that churn was up 2% and CAC hadn't moved.

That meeting was a failure. So I changed the structure.
I stopped tracking "velocity" and started tracking "financial impact."

Here is the shift:

1.Old Way: "We launched the reporting module." (Who cares?)
2.New Way: "The reporting module reduced support costs by $15k/month and protected $2M in ARR from at-risk accounts."

When I scaled a SaaS product to $25M ARR, I didn't do it by clearing Jira tickets. I did it by treating every feature request as a capital investment that required a return.

If you cannot connect your backlog to the bank account, you aren't a Product Manager. You are a project administrator.

One Question For You: Do you know the exact dollar value of the churn your current sprint is supposed to prevent?

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing, author of Product Quarterback.

My Mission: To operationalize the next generation of product leaders, transforming complexity into clarity through verifiable systems to accelerate human impact on a global scale.

I write executive playbooks across AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, SaaS P&L Management, and Leadership (From 0 to $25M ARR).

If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Get the Playbooks & Connect:

• Get the Book: Product Quarterback: https://lnkd.in/gii_g87h

• Subscribe to the Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

• Follow the LinkedIn Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

• Read on Medium: https://lnkd.in/gZjJRazs

#ProductManagement #ProductLeadership #SaaS #ExecutiveLeadership #FinancialModeling

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭.

Look, I’ve been there. 

You look at a packed calendar and feel productive. But are you? For years, my calendar was a source of anxiety, not clarity. I was trying to optimize time, but I was losing the fight on impact. I was relying on motivation, which runs out fast.

I stopped relying on willpower and started building systems that make progress automatic. If you don’t control your mornings, everyone else will.

Two Systems That Kill False Productivity:

📈 The Truth: Start Every Monday with “The P&L Power List.” This is my confession: I used to have a huge to-do list that made me feel busy while avoiding the actual hard work. 

Now, I force myself to name only 3 high-leverage outcomes for the week. This is a firewall against managing fake urgency. It forces me to ask: Is this driving P&L impact, or am I just hiding from a tough conversation?

🛡️ The Hard Stop: Block 90 Minutes of Deep Work Every Morning. If you lead a big team, everyone is trying to take a piece of your energy. My 90 minutes is protected time. 

No Slack, no meetings, no email. This is when I do visionary thinking, plan the roadmap, or solve the hardest Product Sense challenges. It’s my admission that I can’t “fit in” complex thought, I have to force it into existence.

I don’t chase productivity. I build engines that produce clarity and steady output.

What’s the one takeaway from this that resonated with you most? 

---
Hi, I’m Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks on AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, Leadership, Mindset. 

Please Like, Comment, and Repost to share this fundamental lesson with your network!

• Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

• Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

#AI #Everyone #ProductManagement #Leadership #Mindset #ProductLeadership #Career #CareerGrowth #ProjectManagement #ProgramManagement

Managing time

𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠?
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐛 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭

Here’s a sneak preview, it’s being vulnerable.

I’ve personally driven over $5M+ in cost reductions through strategic cloud migration and vendor consolidation. I know the difference between a textbook and the messy reality of shipping technology. 

Here’s the fatal flaw: A Cert is not Proof of Vulnerability. A certification is a key, but it won’t open the door if you can’t prove you know how to use it. 

The real problem isn’t your knowledge; it’s your unwillingness to be vulnerable by sharing unpolished, real-world work.

Financial impact doesn’t come from clean exams; it comes from being willing to show the messy work that failed three times before it finally worked.

• The Lie of the Proctored Exam: A certification is controlled. Experience is messy. Hiring managers are desperate for talent that can handle the messy reality of cloud migration, MLOps, and data pipelines. They want proof you’ve suffered through a deployment, not just proof you aced a multiple-choice test.

• Stand Out in a Crowded Field with the Hard Truth: Hiring managers are flooded with resumes, and if you have a certification from Google Cloud, AWS, or Microsoft they assume that you’re applying it in cloud-native, production-ready ways. You have to prove that assumption right.

• Industry Recognition is a Minimum Bar: Top-tier certs are just the minimum. They are the market’s first filter. Your second filter is your demonstrable project, your public show of work. 

Here's how to level up:

✅ Google Cloud Professional ML Engineer (https://lnkd.in/gDTg285U)
✅ Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified ML- Specialty (https://lnkd.in/gm7cuxbN)
✅ Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (https://lnkd.in/g7TVwC8z)
✅ Databricks Certified ML Professional (https://lnkd.in/gmtwtA5q)

The Proof of Struggle: You must pair your certification with real, demonstrable projects. This means open source work, GitHub repos, or cloud ML demos. This isn’t for a grade; this is you showing an employer the unvarnished, vulnerable process of solving a real problem.

A cert says skill. Execution is the asset that signals you can solve problems and generate financial impact. Show your work, even the messy parts.

What’s the one takeaway from this that resonated with you most? Drop a comment below!

Please Like, Comment, and Repost!

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

#AI #Certifications #ProductManagement #Leadership #Mindset #Tech #Career #CareerGrowth

Chief Product Officer (CPO) / VP of Product | Scaled SaaS from 0-to-1 to $25M ARR | AI Strategy & Organizational Transformation | Amazon Author, Product Quarterback

Does-Your-Certification-Actually-Prove-Anything

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞.

AI is not a feature. 
It is a capital expense.

I see too many roadmaps right now that are just lists of "GenAI" integrations. 

The product team adds a chatbot, pats themselves on the back, and ignores the cloud bill.

This is bad business.

When I look at AI strategy, I don't look at the prompt engineering. 
I look at the unit economics.

The Math is Brutal: If you add an LLM call to your core loop, you just increased your COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) on every single user interaction.

• Did you raise prices to cover it?
• Did it reduce churn enough to offset the API bill?

If the answer is "we don't know," you are driving the company off a cliff.

I treat AI implementation with the same scrutiny as hiring a new department. We need to see the P&L impact before we write the code.

Innovation without economic viability isn't strategy. 
It's charity. 
And we are not in the charity business.

One Question For You: Have you calculated the exact cost per query of your new AI feature, or are you waiting for the CFO to yell at you?

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing, author of Product Quarterback.

My Mission: To operationalize the next generation of product leaders, transforming complexity into clarity through verifiable systems to accelerate human impact on a global scale.

I write executive playbooks across AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, SaaS P&L Management, and Leadership (From 0 to $25M ARR).

If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Get the Playbooks & Connect:

• Get the Book: Product Quarterback: https://lnkd.in/gii_g87h
• Subscribe to the Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt
• Follow the LinkedIn Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs
• Read on Medium: https://lnkd.in/gZjJRazs

#AIStrategy #SaaSEconomics #ProductStrategy #TechLeadership #UnitEconomics

𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡. 
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭.

When I look at P&Ls across the industry, I see the same pattern: AI is eating budgets, not solving problems.

We are seeing a tsunami of resources poured into "AI initiatives." Yet, leadership teams remain paralyzed by a Crisis of Context, drowning in data but starving for real-time clarity.

Here is the executive truth I share in this week’s newsletter: 

The AI revolution isn’t a technical problem. It is a Financial Leadership Test.

If you cannot monetize your AI strategy, either through massive revenue generation or specific cost mitigation, you are just paying for compute. You are managing complexity, not driving impact.

In this edition of The Playbook, I break down:

1. The $25M Strategic Lever: Why the biggest AI opportunity isn't a customer-facing chatbot, but an internal strategy engine.

2. The "Crisis of Context": How to use AI to eliminate analysis debt and give executives real-time visibility.

3. The Profit-First Mandate: Moving from "What can we use AI for?" to "What must we automate to drive efficiency?"

The path to AI success isn’t paved with more features.

Read the full breakdown in the newsletter below. 👇

#AIStrategy #ProductManagement #ExecutiveLeadership #SaaS #PandL #BusinessStrategy

Stop chasing chatbots. Start building the $25M strategic lever your leadership team actually needs. The deafening roar of the AI revolution is here. E

Open article: The AI Revolution Isn’t Technical. It’s a Financial Leadership Test. by Richard Ewing • 3 min read

The AI Revolution Isn’t Technical. It’s a Financial Leadership Test.

𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲? 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬.

We all have the same thing... Time, Energy, and Attention.

I’ve led VP-level transformations and scaled companies to $25M ARR.

I’ll be honest: my first years were completely wasted solving problems that kept me poor.

My biggest career breakthrough came when a mentor told me to change the difficulty setting.

You are paid in proportion to the difficulty of the problems you solve.
If you solve small problems, you get paid very little. This is the brutal truth of the market.

The Executive Problem Set: Upgrade Your Focus

Elite leaders understand that time, energy, and attention are finite resources. You must focus 100% of them on high-leverage problems that create exponential value.

• The Small Problem: Arguing over a feature’s priority, fixing a minor bug, or reporting a simple KPI. (Low Return on Attention).

• The Big Problem (Executive Focus):

-- Financial Levers: Mastering P&L Management and GTM Strategy to secure new funding or identify multi-million dollar revenue opportunities.

-- Strategic Integrity: Leading Build-vs-Buy analyses and securing C-Suite Buy-in on critical strategic decisions.

---Systemic Discipline: Defining and enforcing Roadmap Governance and Data Governance across a major technology portfolio.

Stop wasting your most valuable asset time, energy and your attention, on things that don’t yield a 10x return. 

Upgrade the scale of your problems, and your market value will follow.

What is the biggest “small problem” you need to delegate or eliminate this week?

---
Hi, I’m Richard Ewing. I write to operationalize the next generation of leaders across AI Strategy, Product Management, Leadership. 

If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟖𝟎/𝟐𝟎 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 
(𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠)

I’ve personally led $5M+ cost reduction initiatives by tackling the hard questions, like deciding what to stop building and what to sunset. The hardest decision isn’t technical; it’s a strategic one: Are we solving the right problem?

I’ve watched too many brilliant teams fall into the “solutions in search of problems” trap.

Building the solution is the easy part. The challenge is having the rigor to commit to the discovery phase. The difference between a forgotten feature and a $25M ARR product is that the latter spent 80% of its energy on discovery and validation.

The smartest product leaders are the ones who put the brakes on development and insist on three non-negotiable questions:

1. Is this problem worth solving? 

- (The P&L Filter: Does it tie back to a clear financial or strategic objective?)

2. Who’s struggling with this daily? 

- (The User Empathy Filter: Are we listening to the Voice of Customer (VOC), or just the loudest internal voice?)

3. How will we know we’ve actually fixed it? 

- (The Execution Rigor Filter: Are the Customer Experience (CX) Metrics defined, tracked, and aligned to success?)

The real magic in today’s AI-powered world is realizing that your time isn’t a factory for code, it’s a scarce resource for choosing the right fight.

If you skip the 80% and rush the 20%, you’re just trading rigor for activity.

What’s the one takeaway from this that resonated with you most? 

Drop a comment below!

---
Hi, I’m Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks on AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, Leadership, Mindset, P&L, and organizational turnaround. 

Please Like, Comment, and Repost to share this fundamental lesson with your network!

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#ProductManagement #AI #ProductManagment #Tech #Career #ProjectMangagment #Engineer #ProgramMagagment #ProductLeadership

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 

Organizational chaos isn't caused by laziness; it's caused by data fragmentation across niche tools.

If your team has to ask "Where is the product vision?"

You have failed at Roadmap Governance.

The Canonical Document Mandate: As a leader, you must enforce a singular document repository (like a central Confluence or "canonical document"). 

This ensures:

• Anyone can instantly see the financial impact.
• Current status and strategic alignment are clear.

This is essential for the transparency and accountability required for scaling.

What tool (Notion, Confluence, etc.) does your company use to hold your single source of truth for product strategy?

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks. If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt 

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#Leadership #ProductManagement #Technology #ProjectManagement #ProgramManagement #AI #Career

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐞
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡

I’ve learned that a North Star Metric (NSM) is useless, or even dangerous, without a Counter Metric. 

I know a vanity NSM can drive growth but destroy long-term platform health.

The counter metric is my non-negotiable health check. It covers:

• Customer satisfaction
• Platform health
• Data Governance

This metric ensures I maintain long-term financial results. 

I institute a regular review cadence where I track both metrics to ensure a holistic view for my leadership team.

This discipline is what prevents my short-term wins from hurting the bottom line.

What is the Counter Metric your team tracks to ensure platform health doesn’t get sacrificed for growth?

---
Hi, I’m Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks. If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt 

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#ProductLeadership #Leadership #Technology

𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝟗𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬. 
𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞.

When you step into a leadership role, the noise is deafening. Everyone wants "five minutes" to pick your brain, pitch a tool, or discuss a vague idea.

If you say yes to everyone, you will accomplish nothing.

I used to drown in these meetings. 
My calendar was a graveyard of "quick chats" that went nowhere. 

I realized I needed a filter. 
I needed to impose order on the confusion.

I developed a diagnostic protocol I call The Gatekeeper Method.

It is not about being rude. It is about testing seriousness.

When someone asks for my time to "discuss strategy," I don't look at my calendar. I send this reply:

"I only take calls if we have a specific metric to discuss. What is your current ARR churn rate? If you don't have that, we aren't ready to talk yet."

The Result:

• The Time-Wasters: They vanish. They don't have the number, or they are too lazy to find it.

• The Serious Players: They respect the directness. They find the number. They come back prepared.

This method protects my focus for the work that actually matters: scaling revenue and cutting costs.

One Question For You: What is the one "hurdle question" you could ask today to eliminate 50% of your useless meetings?

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing, author of Product Quarterback.

My Mission: To operationalize the next generation of product leaders, transforming complexity into clarity through verifiable systems to accelerate human impact on a global scale.

I write executive playbooks across AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, SaaS P&L Management, and Leadership (From 0 to $25M ARR).

If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Get the Playbooks & Connect:

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#ProductManagement #TheGatekeeperMethod #ProductOperations #TimeManagement #ExecutiveLeadership

𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞. 🗑️

I replaced it with a "Win Locker."

Resumes are static. They lie. 
They get filtered by robots. 
I am building Hidden Market OS to fix the "Input Problem" of hiring.

1. The "Hostile Biographer" Agent: It interviews you. It challenges you. It forces you to quantify your impact ($M, %). It turns your voice notes into Verified Assets.

2. Predictive Discovery: It doesn't match keywords. It matches Problems to Solutions.

Company Pain: "Our cloud costs are too high."

Your Win Locker: "I cut cloud costs by $5M."

The Result: A 100% Match delivered to your inbox, with your resume already written.

This is not a "Job Board." It is an Arbitrage Engine for your career.

I just broke down the full technical thesis (Win Locker -> Predictive Match) in this week's edition of The Product Quarterback.

Read the blueprint below. 👇

#ProductManagement #CareerStrategy #AgenticAI #HiddenMarket #TechnicalLeadership

For the last 20 years, we have been playing a game called "Keyword Bingo." You write a resume (a static PDF). You guess what keywords the ATS wants. Y

Open article: I am building the last career tool you will ever need. by Richard Ewing • 3 min read

I am building the last career tool you will ever need.

𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞?

In the enterprise world, an amateur mistake with security & compliance tradeoffs can wipe out an entire contract. 

I've seen it happen. The truth is, most teams treat compliance like an afterthought, guaranteeing a quiet failure down the road.

Your job as an executive is to turn that fear into a feature.

My new article just dropped on how to architect trust in SaaS environments, including:

• Why the "Admin" persona should be the most important part of your product strategy.
• The single most important financial metric to optimize: Cost of Customer Retention (CCR).
• How to use a Quality Gate signed by Legal and Engineering to eliminate last-minute crises.

Stop risking your contracts on hope. Start building a fortress of discipline.

Read the full article here:

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks on AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, Leadership, Mindset, P&L, and organizational turnaround. Please Like, Comment, and Repost to share this fundamental lesson with your network!

#EnterpriseSaaS #Compliance #StakeholderManagement #DataDriven #ProductStrategy #CrossFunctional #P&L #Leadership #ProductManagement #ProductLeadership #Tech #AI #ProjectManagement #ProgramManagement

I remember the day a massive enterprise client almost walked away because of a single compliance oversight we made early on. The technical flaw was sm

Open article: The Cost of a Quiet Failure by Richard Ewing • 2 min read

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬

The biggest waste in business today is solving the wrong problems.

I’ve personally owned the 0-to-1 Product Lifecycle of a flagship product, scaling it to over $25M ARR. Working with tech teams for over a decade has taught me one clear lesson: 

Building stuff is the easy part.

I’ve watched brilliant developers create amazing things in days that would have taken months just a few years ago. 

But here’s the strange part: 

Many of these impressive builds end up unused or forgotten.

Why?

Because they solved problems nobody really had.

I call this the “solutions in search of problems“ trap. It’s like buying a fancy drill when all you actually need is a picture hanging on the wall. (I’m totally guilty of this, too!)

The smartest teams I’ve worked with spend 80% of their time understanding the problem, and only 20% building the solution.

Before they write a line of code, they ask:

→ Is this problem worth solving?
→ Who’s struggling with this daily?
→ How will we know we’ve actually fixed it?

In today’s AI-powered world, we can build almost anything we imagine. The hard part is NOT creating. It’s choosing what TO create.

The real magic happens when you find a genuine problem that keeps people up at night, and then build the simplest possible solution.

How do you make sure you’re solving problems worth solving?

What’s the one takeaway from this that resonated with you most? Drop a comment below!

---
Hi, I’m Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks on AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, Leadership, Mindset, P&L, and organizational turnaround. 

Please Like, Comment, and Repost to share this fundamental lesson with your network!

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

#ProductManagement #AI #ProductManagment #Tech #Career #ProjectMangagment #Engineer #ProgramMagagment #ProductLeadership

𝐈 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫. 
(𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟑 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬.)

The secret to high-level execution isn’t discipline; it’s systemization. I’ll be honest, my early career was a grind because I thought I could just out-work the chaos. I was relying on a motivation that always ran out. I realized the second my willpower failed, the organizational chaos I was fighting always won.

I stopped trying to be disciplined and started building engines. What engine have you built to protect your energy and generate consistent output?

The 3 Hacks That Compound Your Focus:

1. 📑 Confession: I’m Not Spontaneous, I’m Templatized. 

Spontaneity wastes time, and in executive roles, wasting time means wasting revenue. Updates, stakeholder comms, and status reports should all be pre-built. 

My brainpower is finite. I save it for problem-solving, not writing the same email over and over.

I template everything so I can save my creative energy for the toughest Product Strategy pivots.

2. 📝 The Evidence: Keep a Daily Log of What You ACTUALLY Moved Forward. 

This isn’t a to-do list for tomorrow; it’s a “what got done“ list from today. I log what tasks were completed and, critically, what impact was delivered.

I do this because when it’s time for reviews or promotions, nobody remembers your “hard work”, they only remember the quantified impact. This log is my proof.

3. 🧘 The Vulnerable Check-In: End Every Week with a 15-Minute Self-Retro. I check my ego at the door and ask the hard questions:

Where did I waste motion? Where did I drive impact? What drained/gave me energy? This weekly check-in is how I correct my own course. It’s my protection against needing a full-blown Organizational Turnaround later.

I stopped trying to be productive. I started building systems that produce clarity and output consistently.

What’s the one takeaway from this that resonated with you most? Drop a comment below!

---

Hi, I’m Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks on AI Strategy, Product Management, Product Leadership, Leadership, Mindset, P&L, and organizational turnaround. 

Please Like, Comment, and Repost to share this fundamental lesson with your network!

---
Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

#AI #ProductManagement #Leadership #ProductLeadership #Career #ProgramManagement #ProjectManagement #Tech #Mindset

P&L is the New Feature

Being an AI-forward Product Leader isn’t about running pilots. 

It’s about tying the AI Product Strategy directly to P&L Management. If you can’t monetize AI, you’re just paying for compute.

• AI Product Strategy: The framework dictates operationalizing AI across core business functions (Programs, Marketing, Finance/Operations) to automate tasks and drive efficiency. For example:

Leveraging AI to mine customer support data for actionable insights helped clients identify $5M in new revenue opportunities.

Your job is to perform build-vs-buy analyses and secure stakeholder alignment for complex capabilities that deliver financial results.

What is the single biggest non-customer-facing task AI could automate inside your organization to drive efficiency?

---
Hi, I’m Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks. If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt 

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: 
https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

#AI #Technology #ProductLeadership #ProductManagement #Career

𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

The easiest way to bloat your roadmap is to let people suggest solutions before defining the outcome. 

This is why your roadmap is 200 features long.

Opportunity Solution Tree (OST): The OST is a visual mapping tool that forces the team to link:

1. Desired outcomes
2. Identified opportunities
3. Potential solutions

Use the OST to clear a bloated roadmap and ensure stakeholder alignment on strategic goals, which is critical for Portfolio Management. 

You must structure your strategic roadmap meetings to focus on outcomes before jumping to solutions.

What is the biggest “solution looking for a problem” you’ve successfully removed from your current roadmap?

---
Hi, I’m Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks. If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

#ProductManagement #ProductLeadership #Technology #Leadership

Jobs To Be Done
Empathy Test 

Your customer doesn't want your features. They are "hiring" your product to solve a specific pain. Stop building features that you want.

Start building solutions that slash customer churn by 20%.

Jobs To Be Done (JTBD): JTBD is the core Mindset shift necessary to ensure User Empathy drives your Feature Prioritization. It requires:

• Instituting a formal Voice of Customer (VOC) program.
• Structuring your Discovery Process around validated pain points.

This is how you slash customer churn and deliver real P&L value.

What is the last Job To Be Done you observed a customer "hiring" your product for?

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing, and I write executive playbooks. If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt 

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs
#ProductManagement #Mindset #Leadership #FinancialImpact

𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞. 
𝐈’𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

The fear around AI valuations is real, and it’s being fed by a financial loop that looks less like innovation and more like The Three Stooges handing the same dollar back and forth.

This financial reality check needs to hit home for every product executive:

🤯 The Illusion of Scale

The market is creating an incredible illusion of investment because the same capital is cycling through a handful of players. They are simultaneously investor, supplier, and customer of each other.

Here’s the breakdown of how the game is played:

• An AI company inks a massive cloud contract with a service provider.

• The cloud provider immediately uses that income to buy specialized hardware from a chip maker.

• The chip maker then recycles huge investments back into the original AI company to finance the expansion that demands more of its own hardware.

This interdependence concentrates immense risk. It creates paper valuations but delays the moment that value is proven by actual, profitable customer revenue.

🛑 The Product Executive's Problem

The concentration is hyper-concerning. Your entire organizational strategy is now overwhelmingly dependent on the fortunes of a handful of interlocked Big Tech names. If they stumble, trillions in market value are instantly put at risk.

This is why you cannot afford to have a speculative AI strategy.

🎯 The Executive Mandate: The Proof-First Strategy

Forget the hype. 

 As a product executive, your job is to focus on the Proof-First Strategy.

The problem isn't the technology; it’s the lack of organizational accountability to show a bottom-line return. Many companies are deploying AI without seeing a meaningful business impact.

This is the single most important rule right now: You must treat every AI project as an internal 0-to-1 SaaS product. Own the P&L, demand verifiable customer validation, and use the technology to find the actual revenue hiding in your own systems, like identifying the next $5M in new opportunities from service data.

What concrete organizational system have you deployed to ensure your AI projects are generating real impact and not just contributing to the hype cycle?

---
Hi, I'm Richard Ewing. I write executive playbooks to operationalize the next generation of product leaders across, Product Management, and Leadership. 

If this helped you, tag one leader in the comments.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gQVavuTt

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Product Leadership Playbook: https://lnkd.in/gGSYe2Bs

#Innovation
#Management
#Technology
#AI
#ProductStrategy
#ExecutiveLeadership

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